[The workforce in the Brazilian healthcare grid: advantages and challenges]

This essay discusses the importance and the dimension of the workforce in the healthcare grid in the Brazilian labor market. It examines the growing occupation trend in relation to restrictions to the rise in productivity, especially in the activities in the center of the healthcare complex. In a context of recurrent governmental budget constraints, the development of the Unified Health System ultimately results in increased coverage, but with deteriorating conditions and wages. This trend has also been accompanied by tensions in resource sharing with other pillars of social policies. The essay concludes that, in order to achieve high quality treatment and adequate working conditions, public health policy requires a better solution for its funding and greater linkages with the institutional matrix of general social policies. Even with the need for greater efficiency in spending, current resources are insufficient. Furthermore, it is important to highlight the need for institutional interaction of health policy with other social policies, seeking to ensure a more comprehensive and quality service for the population.